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Oshie shootout master in U.S. win over Russia

A terrific Olympic hockey joust between the Americans and Russians ended with St. Louis Blues forward T.J. Oshie dominating the rollicking, eight-round shootout with five consecutive attempts and six shots in all, scoring on four of them to give the unbeaten U.S. a 3-2 triumph.

A terrific Olympic hockey joust between the Americans and Russians ended with St. Louis Blues forward T.J. Oshie dominating the rollicking, eight-round shootout with five consecutive attempts and six shots in all, scoring on four of them to give the unbeaten U.S. a 3-2 triumph.

This should spawn an interesting debate: which is better, the NHL style of shootout or the IIHF style? In the NHL, a shooter can only go once until all the players on his team have had at least one attempt.

Internationally, after the first three shootout attempts, teams can use the same player or players in whatever order they choose. Canadians might remember Jonathan Toews being used in this way one year to help win the 2007 world juniors. But he only shot three times.

Back at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the Russians used Alex Ovechkin three times, but lost in a shootout to Slovakia.

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This time, the Americans and Oshie took it to a whole different level. After James van Riemsdyk and Joe Pavelski each took an attempt, it was all Oshie all the time, while the Russians leaned on Pavel Datsyuk and former NHLer Ilya Kovalchuk. Truth be told, Oshie could have scored on all six attempts.

On one, he deked reigning Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky out of his jockstrap, but flip the puck over the net.

On the other miss, he made a great backhand move, but a lunging Bobrovsky, beaten again, just got the blade of his goal stick out to stop the puck going into the open side.

The four shots Oshie made we all beauties, including the five-hole shot to win it on Bobrovsky, who will have nightmares featuring the dynamic Blues forward. Given what Oshie did, it makes you wonder if anyone will want to get into a shootout with the Americans in this tourney.

Datysuk did score twice regulation on Jonathan Quick in the first really interesting game at the Sochi hockey tournament, and the Russians had the apparent winning goal waved off in the third period because the net had been knocked off its moorings.

Cam Fowler and Pavelski scored for the Americans, while Maple Leaf sniper Phil Kessel was held off the board after a three-point effort against the Slovaks to open the Olympics.

Ovechkin, who leads the NHL with 40 goals this season, didn’t score in regulation or OT and wasn’t used in the shootout, as the perplexing Olympic slump he first encountered in Vancouver continues.

Just as Canada looks to help Sidney Crosby break out, Russia needs to find a way to open up new possibilities for Ovechkin, who only scored in one game at the 2010 Olympics.

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